The Well- and Unwell-Being of a Child

Christina Schües; Christoph Rehmann-Sutter

doi:10.1007/s11245-013-9157-z

The Well- and Unwell-Being of a Child

Christina Schües, Christoph Rehmann-Sutter^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Institute of History of Medicine and Science Studies

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The concept of the 'well-being of the child' (like the 'child's welfare' and 'best interests of the child') has remained underdetermined in legal and ethical texts on the needs and rights of children. As a hypothetical construct that draws attention to the child's long-term welfare, the well-being of the child is a broader concept than autonomy and happiness. This paper clarifies some conceptual issues of the well-being of the child from a philosophical point of view. The main question is how well-being could in practice acquire a concrete meaning and content for a particular issue or situation. A phenomenological-hermeneutic research perspective will be outlined that allows the child's well-being to be elucidated and specified as an anthropological and ethical idea. It is based on a contextual understanding of generative relationships, a combination of the theory and practice of making sense, here described as 'generative insight', which could provide ethical guidance for decision making in families, legal practice, medicine or biomedical research.

Original language	English
Journal	Topoi
Volume	32
Issue number	2
Pages (from-to)	197-205
Number of pages	9
ISSN	0167-7411
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-013-9157-z
Publication status	Published - 01.10.2013

Funding

Acknowledgments We thank Janice McLaughlin, Thorsten Moos, Lili Schwesinger, Sarah Daubitz and Lina Busch for encouraging discussions. Jackie Leach Scully and Monica Buckland provided textual suggestions that made the argument clearer. The paper originated from a study on the well-being of the child in stem cell transplantation, which is funded by Thyssen Foundation and Karl Peter Ringel.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being
SDG 4 Quality Education
SDG 5 Gender Equality
SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Access to Document

10.1007/s11245-013-9157-z

Cite this

@article{9debc7b7d9954ae9b28388d5fb8b51dd,

title = "The Well- and Unwell-Being of a Child",

abstract = "The concept of the 'well-being of the child' (like the 'child's welfare' and 'best interests of the child') has remained underdetermined in legal and ethical texts on the needs and rights of children. As a hypothetical construct that draws attention to the child's long-term welfare, the well-being of the child is a broader concept than autonomy and happiness. This paper clarifies some conceptual issues of the well-being of the child from a philosophical point of view. The main question is how well-being could in practice acquire a concrete meaning and content for a particular issue or situation. A phenomenological-hermeneutic research perspective will be outlined that allows the child's well-being to be elucidated and specified as an anthropological and ethical idea. It is based on a contextual understanding of generative relationships, a combination of the theory and practice of making sense, here described as 'generative insight', which could provide ethical guidance for decision making in families, legal practice, medicine or biomedical research.",

author = "Christina Sch{\"u}es and Christoph Rehmann-Sutter",

year = "2013",

month = oct,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1007/s11245-013-9157-z",

language = "English",

volume = "32",

pages = "197--205",

journal = "Topoi",

issn = "0167-7411",

publisher = "Springer Netherlands",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Well- and Unwell-Being of a Child

AU - Schües, Christina

AU - Rehmann-Sutter, Christoph

PY - 2013/10/1

Y1 - 2013/10/1

N2 - The concept of the 'well-being of the child' (like the 'child's welfare' and 'best interests of the child') has remained underdetermined in legal and ethical texts on the needs and rights of children. As a hypothetical construct that draws attention to the child's long-term welfare, the well-being of the child is a broader concept than autonomy and happiness. This paper clarifies some conceptual issues of the well-being of the child from a philosophical point of view. The main question is how well-being could in practice acquire a concrete meaning and content for a particular issue or situation. A phenomenological-hermeneutic research perspective will be outlined that allows the child's well-being to be elucidated and specified as an anthropological and ethical idea. It is based on a contextual understanding of generative relationships, a combination of the theory and practice of making sense, here described as 'generative insight', which could provide ethical guidance for decision making in families, legal practice, medicine or biomedical research.

AB - The concept of the 'well-being of the child' (like the 'child's welfare' and 'best interests of the child') has remained underdetermined in legal and ethical texts on the needs and rights of children. As a hypothetical construct that draws attention to the child's long-term welfare, the well-being of the child is a broader concept than autonomy and happiness. This paper clarifies some conceptual issues of the well-being of the child from a philosophical point of view. The main question is how well-being could in practice acquire a concrete meaning and content for a particular issue or situation. A phenomenological-hermeneutic research perspective will be outlined that allows the child's well-being to be elucidated and specified as an anthropological and ethical idea. It is based on a contextual understanding of generative relationships, a combination of the theory and practice of making sense, here described as 'generative insight', which could provide ethical guidance for decision making in families, legal practice, medicine or biomedical research.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84884519082

U2 - 10.1007/s11245-013-9157-z

DO - 10.1007/s11245-013-9157-z

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:84884519082

SN - 0167-7411

VL - 32

SP - 197

EP - 205

JO - Topoi

JF - Topoi

IS - 2

ER -

The Well- and Unwell-Being of a Child

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this